I had been discharged from a seven year stint in the US Coast Guard the day before, and spent the night in my room in the the barracks, waiting or the truck that was shipping my five motorcycles back to Michigan. The truck showed up, the bikes loaded and started the trip.

I grabbed my American flag emblazoned backpack and walked off base to Highway 1, where I sat on a guardrail, lit up a doobie, and stuck my thumb out. I had all day to get to San Francisco by evening, where I was staying with friends overnight, then catch a flight out the next morning.

After a short bit, a Mercedes 450 convertible with the top down, driven by a nice looking 30ish lady stopped and picked me up. My pack just fit behind the seat, I got in and off we went, heading south. We chatted a bit, and just south of Stinson Beach she asked if I had any weed left. We shared a joint, in the California sun while "Boys of Summer" played on the tape deck........

Led Zeppelin's "Rock & Roll," will always remind me of my older stepbrother who was constantly sneaking out at night on weekends my brother and I stayed there - so he could rip off our stuff and trade it to other local delinquents for weed or whatever. The day I finally worked up the nerve sock him in the mouth over it "Rock & Roll," happened to be playing on my CD player at the time. I was about 13 and he was about 15 and he had 4 or 5 inches on me and he took me to the ground and subdued me pretty quickly, but he never ripped me off again.

Many of my memorable moments are tied to songs. Pink Floyd's "Wish you were here" will always be tied to a certain girlfriend. There are other moments tied to songs that I don't consider memorable at all. Yet for some reason they stick and I know exactly where I've been when I heard them first. Such as a students job collecting blood samples for a medical lab, driving the roads all over the county. The Wings with "This One" is tied to this time or Liza Minellis "Losing my Mind".

Whenever I hear The Wallflowers' "6th Avenue Heartache," (which, though I like the song, is thankfully rare) I'm instantly transported back to the summer after I graduated high school, 1997. I worked on a dinner cruise ship in Boston Harbor and they would always put that song on at the very end of the night after all the passengers had left, when we were cleaning up. Even thinking about it now I can smell the drawn butter that used to get all over my vest and shirt from the lobsters.

(11-04-2017 01:37 PM)Dom Wrote: She ended up staying for weeks, and she would play in the cave often and you could see her sitting on the beach with her guitar in the daytime, playing and composing...

Joni Mitchell is kind of cool. Although a generation removed, my teens and early twens revolved around 60ies folk and rock. It was the time of disco and none of my friends liked that kind of music, so we just travelled a decade back. We were the children of the anti missile and environmental movement, so we could relate to the Hippies pretty well in any case.

(11-04-2017 01:37 PM)Dom Wrote: Every time I hear any song from Joni Mitchell's album "Ladies of the canyon" I think back to the time I spent in the Greek isles. Joni was there on Crete.

There was a huge circular cave that had steps carved into it, like an old theatre. We ( a bunch of hippies)used to cook dinner there.

One evening she showed up and started playing in there. Holy cow the sound in that cave was just amazing! Someone came around and handed out Mescalin and we had a very memorable night.

She ended up staying for weeks, and she would play in the cave often and you could see her sitting on the beach with her guitar in the daytime, playing and composing...

That's pretty incredible. She is not a favorite of mine though I acknowledge she's incredibly gifted. Her voice is an acquired taste I never fully acquired, lol. But I do appreciate it for the one-of-a-kind instrument that it is. It's kinda like how Dylan songs are often better left to other voices, but with Joni who else could even attempt those sounds? I mean that in a good way. She's one that I appreciate more than I enjoy, if that makes sense. Still a world-class songwriter and performer without doubt. That must have been an amazing time.

(11-04-2017 02:18 PM)yakherder Wrote: I've had "It's a Small World" stuck in my head on constant repeat since going to Disneyland at age 7 and going on the corresponding ride. Does that count?

If I really want to get my wife going, all I have to do is mention that little piece of "music". Went to Disneyland many years ago, and my eldest sister went through that ride several times that day. That could be a corner of hell, that ride on repeat for even a few iterations.